Plane Circles Island for an Hour After Air Traffic Controller Falls Asleep at the Tower

A group of stunned passengers got an unexpected midnight sightseeing tour over Corsica this week — all because the one guy running the airport tower dozed off.

On Tuesday, September 16, an Air Corsica flight from Paris found itself in a bizarre holding pattern when it arrived at Ajaccio Napoléon Bonaparte Airport on the French island of Corsica. As the plane descended just after midnight, the pilot’s radio calls to the control tower went completely unanswered.

Turns out? The air traffic controller on duty had fallen asleep.

“There were no runway lights, no communication. We were just… up there,” one passenger told French outlet Corse Matin. “The captain contacted the airport’s fire department to figure out what was going on. When they couldn’t reach anyone in the tower either, they called the police.”

That’s right — the police had to get involved just to wake the guy up.

As the drama unfolded behind the scenes, passengers were kept informed by a remarkably calm and collected pilot.

“We did a little sightseeing,” the captain reportedly joked to passengers, adding that he might need to reroute the plane to Bastia — another Corsican city — if they couldn’t make contact soon. “At no point was there any panic,” he said. “Everyone remained calm.”

The plane circled over the Gulf of Ajaccio for close to an hour as emergency teams tried to access the tower. Apparently, security locks on the control tower doors slowed them down — but once inside, they discovered the controller fast asleep at his desk.

After being roused from his nap, the controller managed to switch on the runway lights and guide the Airbus A320 in for a safe landing. He was later tested for drugs and alcohol — and reportedly passed with flying colors.

The flight had already left Paris’ Orly Airport 27 minutes behind schedule. It ultimately landed in Ajaccio around 12:35 a.m., roughly 80 minutes late, according to FlightAware.

Air Corsica and airport officials haven’t issued formal statements yet. The French National Police declined to comment on the incident.

“In my decades of experience, I’ve never dealt with a situation like this,” the pilot later admitted.

Passengers may have arrived a little late, but they left with one unforgettable story — and possibly some unexpected aerial photos of Corsica under the stars.